Sara Ryder Now savior of the Nexus…. Or at least that's what everyone was calling her. All but Jaal. He still regarded her the same.
"My Darling One." She loved hearing that voice with that name. In a galaxy that they had not been from in a place where they were the Aliens, She was still able to find someone that could love her for her. She didn't doubt that she could do that back in the Milky Way though. No there had been more than enough people lining up to greet and court her. She just didn't want them. There was no adventure to be had with them. But here in Andromeda that is where the difference was. This whole galaxy was an adventure.
"Where is it that you wanted to take me?" He asked as she smiled a little boarding the tempest. "Just you wait and see." She said with a teasing sing song tone to her voice. The tempest took off from Meridian and headed away. She headed for the bridge before pointing them towards the Eriksson Star System. Ryder went around to some of the team members and told them where she had pointed them and Liam and Cora were the first to dress so they could head planet side and see what the differences were. Then she reached Jaal's door and opened it watching it slide open before going in slowly.
"My Darling One." She smiled a little embracing her Angaran Lover. "You seem … excited?" He asked not quite sure if that was the right word for it. It wasn't that he didn't know what to put but he wasn't sure if the tension in her shoulders was excitement or fear.
"Well mostly, though anxious as well. We… are heading somewhere that is very important for me and my Crew, with you being a part of this crew and being very important to me I needed to show you this place for myself as well." She said before Jaal nodded slightly. " Is that why Scott is along for this trip as well?" he asked, having seen the other's twin below in the crew quarters a couple times since they had left the nexus."
"Uh… yeah… well he will want to know about what Moshae Sjefa did for us." She said before taking the others hand softly. "She did something for my family that I never thought could be and I couldn't be happier that I proved to not just Evfra but to her as well that I could be trusted, that my people could be trusted. Well most of us. There are still some bad eggs but let's not let that ruin this moment." She said with a little grin.
"Well I am glad that I was able to accompany you all this time. I finally found a place where I feel like I am needed." He said as she grinned and leaned up standing on her toes to place a soft kiss to his lips. " Well you will always be needed if I had it my way, there will always be kett to kill." She said softly between them before he laughed rather heartily. "You making murder sound romantic is quite funny Ryder." He said as she chuckled, pushing him a bit before turning. " I should go but get suited up. I am not sure how stable the planet is since the last time I was there." She said before hustling herself out of the room and down to the Pathfinders quarters.
She dressed in her initiative armor before hearing the door being knocked on. "SAM who is it?" "It would be Scott he is looking for you shall I allow him in?" the AI globe on her desk spoke. "Yeah go ahead." She said before the door slid open. "Hey sis." He said as she smiled a little before looking over." hey there yourself. You ready to go to the planet side. I know it's been a while but you still know how to operate a jump jet right?" She asked as her twin laughed and nodded. "Okay good." She said before she saw her brother coming over.
"Are you ready is what I should be asking sara." He said as she shuffled a little riddlign with a piece of her armor. " I'm not sure honestly. I mean this place is important to me and I know you would want to see it too… besides We are already on the way there no turning back and I need to face the facts." She said before feeling him embrace here for the first time in a long time. She bit her lip fighting back the tears before she sighed. "Alright out you we are almost there." With how Kallo drove she figured they were maybe minutes away but it always felt so short when doing FTL travel. As if the Salarian had been in her head the whole time an announcement came over her omni tool. "Pathfinder we are there." She nodded. "Thanks Kallo." She said before lowering her arm. "Well come on let's go."
She headed out of her room and up the ladder before stepping onto the bridge. She looked out the front window before smiling a little. " Habitat 7." She said softly before scoffing. " you were a pain in the ass." She muttered before Suvi spoke up. "Actually it isn't called habitat Seven anymore Ryder." She said in her sweet accent. "That's right… Moshae Sjefa renamed iit with the approval of Both those that are part of the Nexus and the Angaran people." She said as the rest of her team started filing onto the bridge only a couple were missing, one being Jaal. Scott blinked. " So this is Habitat 7 what it's called now?" He asked as she turned and smiled.
"Scott…. This is the planet that dad died on, where we learned how to fix the remnant monoliths… " She said, smiling softly. "This… is where it all started. Dad and I both died that day… I have technically died twice now… trust me I am not ready for the "third times a charm" thing and intend to stay alive for a long time." She said between them.
"Alright everyone let's go down and see if those storms are gone." She said before they all started for the back of the ship. She paused as she saw Jaal stepping out of his room. She went over and took his hand. "Stay close to me alright." She said before heading back the Angaran just nodding.
The flight down was quick but slow enough that Sara explained about everything that had happened when they had first landed on Habitat 7. Scott was a little pissed he hadn't been able to help fight but he had met the bastard who had started the war with them in the first place and he watched as Sara had been able to kick his ass. Still as they walked the surface they were all hesitant to try and breathe the natural air around them and stuck to the mask they wore. Sara fell behind as she looked around. "It was here." She said softly. The rest of the team nodded. They knew that this had been the path they walked before.
"Looks like nexus may have come around and did a bit of a clean up from the shuttles that crash landed here." Liam brought up as Cora nodded as well. "Yeah who knew we would ever walk the same path let alone exactly . I mean this is a big planet. How is it we landed near the same place we crashed at?" She said before Sara continued walking her hand tightening lightly on her lover's.
They all paused at the ridge where they had seen Alec hiding and jumped up before going to the edge and looking over. "The monolith… It's still working it seems. I mean I haven't seen any electricity since we were here and the clouds are all swirly and dangerous looking anymore either." She said as Liam was looking the other direction. " I didn't see any bodies either. I am guessing they were able to pick up kirkland." He said as Scott blinked. "What do you mean pick up Kirkland?" Liam blinked. "Kett killed Kirkland on first contact." Liam said rather depressed.
Jaal paused looking to the hand of his Darling as he had felt her grip tighten around his hand. "Darling one are you alright?" He asked as she frowned. "Liam and I were there and couldn't save him. We saved everyone but Kirkland. Hell even Greer and he was holed up in a cave where Kirkland was in plain sight." She said frustrated before she continued walking. It took time before they stood at the same place her and her father had. The whole team there in that moment. "This was the last happy memory I had of my father." She said softly.
Jaal blinked "What do you mean darling one?" He asked softly moving closer to her. She turned facing the doorway to the monolith. "That is the first monolith he ever activated and his last. We didn't know about that fog that chases you down. That damn purification field ended up rocketing out at us and blew both my father and me off the side of the cliff." She said, turning to look back down towards the ground below. "It was a long drop and had smashed in my helmet visor." She said bringing a hand up touching her face. "Hell I didn't even have my helmet when I left that day. I had died here before and I wore my father's Helmet off the planet. He saved me that day."
Scott stood off to the side looking down at the fall. He was surprised his sister had survived. "Dad was hurt and… he still gave me his helmet." She said her voice starting to crack. She turned before a smile came to her face. "He died that day but because of that I became pathfinder. I found an outpost, I found our people homes." She said before leaning over. " I found a new species of aliens that I can call my friends and family." she said before turning to look out over the former wasteland. "And because of that Moshae Sjefa renamed this place for us. For our dad… our family." She said before grinning a tear coming to her eye. "Welcome to Ryder 1 everyone." She said before Scott turned to look at his sister.
"Really? Ryder 1 they… they named it after us?" He asked as she nodded. "To honor not only our friendship and partnership with the Angaran but to honor our family as well. Dad died here I wasn't lying when I said that, everything I spoke of happened. I died here, dad died here and for a moment our pathfinder was going to be Cora or you." She said before Scott turned gazing out over the land. For a while the area was silent people starting to drift off and heading back for the tempest. Scott was the last to leave, leaving her with just Jaal. She looked over the side before she prepped ehr jump jet. "Come on Jaal." She said before she jumped down using her Jump jet in every way she could before finding her way down to the ground below. She walked for a while before finding something that brought tears to her eyes once more.
"My...old helmet." She said softly looking around before noticing the area, if it had been the sandstorm like look before this would have been about right. "This… this is where it happened." She said crouching down and grabbing the helmet. "This is where I died the first time, and where…" She broke down crying loudly as Jaal panicked and fled to ehr side. "Darling please…" he said before seeing the helmet. "I know it's painful but it's okay he's better now right?" he asked as she sobbed once more. "If it hadn't been for me he would still be here!" She yelled though she knew that wasn't true. The purple skinned alien frowned, holding his love in his arms, rocking her lightly.
She wasn't sure how long she had cried but she knew that she felt better before she shifted a little away from the other. "I'm okay now." She said softly as she sat on the ground. "I know dad would have loved you, probably picked your brain about the Kett and anyway about your technology. If not you then Evfra." She said softly. "Definitely the Moshae" She said softly before looking up towards the sky. "Dad taught me how to use SAM and the monoliths before he died. It wasn't easy getting a hold of it but I can tell it was for the good of everything. Even this place is looking better." She said before standing up. "Come on we … should get back." She said as she looked around a moment.
"See you later Dad." She muttered softly before taking the hand of her Angaran lover and heading back to the tempest.